Cross Shaped Shipping Container Home

The Georgia-based architect Dachi Papuashvili recently shared his plans to construct a tiny home using two shipping containers. He is calling this house The Skit and he plans for it to be shaped like a cross, with one of the shipping containers standing vertically and the other traversing it perpendicularly.

The Skit is a planned 4-floor structure, with three floors measuring only 4 square meters (43 square feet), and a fourth, larger floor that will measure 12 square meters (130 square feet). It was designed to be used as a full time residence for a single person, though it could also be used as a guesthouse, vacation home or office.

Not only will The Skit be built using recycled shipping containers, but it will also be a very sustainable. The architect plans to equip it with a roof top mounted solar panel array, which will generate enough energy to make The Skit completely independent of outside energy sources. Another sustainable feature of The Skit will be the rainwater collection system, which will make it very water efficient. The Skit will also be equipped with a composting toilet and shower that will be powered by the collected rainwater. All the heating needs will be met via a small wood-burning stove. In other words, the planned shipping container home will be completely off-the-grid.

The separate floors are accessible via a ladder, since there is not enough room for an internal staircase. The house consists of a bedroom, a combined living area and study, a kitchen and dining room, as well as a prayer room on the top floor. The first floor of the house will be used primarily as the storage area for food and the captured rainwater, and it will also house the battery array. The exterior of The Skit will be clad in wood, and will also have 2 cozy balconies on the roof of the horizontally placed container.

The architect plans to build the first prototype of the The Skit by 2015. After that he plans to begin selling the tiny homes, which would be completely prefabricated off-site before being transported to the building site.